Is 7 degree gap too much?

[jmgilliam]

I currently have a 45 degree PW (Taylor Made r7) and my Sand Wedge is a Ping Eye 2 from my old set. I believe it is 53.5.

I really am finding myself in the gap a lot and am searching for the right gap wedge. I am leaning to a getting Vokey wedges and my question is this -

Should I go 50.0 for my Gap then go 56 sand wedge or go 52 for my gap and 56 sand wedge - or even 50 - 54.... ??

I'm torn and really respect the advice i've seen come through here so "Thanks In Advance"...

Marshall

[iacas]

I currently have a 45 degree PW (Taylor Made r7) and my Sand Wedge is a Ping Eye 2 from my old set. I believe it is 53.5.

Who cares about the loft(s)? If you have a distance gap, close it.

A lot of the game improvement irons have stronger lofts because the weight is low in the clubhead - which sends the ball higher. Not all 45° wedges are the same. So loft gaps aren't always the story.

[jmgilliam]

I thought about that - it seems i launch my 45 pretty high but I do hit it farther than my old one - that's why I thought a 50 may not be enough Gap.

What is the typical gap wedge loft - 52?

Who cares about the loft(s)? If you have a distance gap, close it.

[Stacey_E]

I'd decide on a Sand Wedge that fit all my needs first, then get a club that fits right in the middle distance wise.

If you are a slider of the club buy a 52, if you are a digger maybe buy a 50. Reason is if you go adding loft you will also and bounce, bad idea for a slider. If you go decreasing loft you decrease bounce, bad for a digger. But you'll only bend it a degree or two so probably no big deal anyway.

[Magnus]

You want to fill the distance gap so you can hit full shots, not have to feather that pw or swing from your heels with the sw. So - chart your yardages with your pw and sw, then try a 50*, 52*, 54*, 56*...etc and find out what works. 45 minutes at the range with some demo wedges will tell you the answers.

[Big_M]

Who cares about the loft(s)? If you have a distance gap, close it.

agree 100%... that being said, who's to say what a gap is. I hit my PW (46*) 125 and my 52* 105 and my 58* 80 (but rarely use it for full shots). point is... space wedges in a way that makes sense for your game.

I thought about that - it seems i launch my 45 pretty high but I do hit it farther than my old one - that's why I thought a 50 may not be enough Gap.

typical gap wedges range from 50-53*, but it really doesn't matter if we call a wedge a gap, sand, or lob... again the key is to have enough wedges to play the necessary shots for your game. Some people like to have 4-5 wedges, others like 2-3... it is all preference, but it makes the most sense to pick wedges that will help with different shots and will give you good yardage spacing.

[mruseless]

Who cares about the loft(s)? If you have a distance gap, close it.

Very interesting! I didn't know that about the lower CG. Can anyone explain the physics of how that happens?

[Wannabe Paper Tiger]

I am guessing by gap you mean the degree from the pw to the sw. I don't think it's too clear in your post since a distance gap is what you seem to be worried about. As Eric stated, if you have a distance gap you should close it. I play 3 wedges, 47, 51 and a 58. I hit my 47: 105 (3/4) -120 (full swing), 51: 85-100 and my 58 80 yards. I choke down on the 58 or hit half to 3/4 shots for anything lower than 80 yards. It works pretty well for me and I have a 7 degree gap from the gap wedge to the lob wedge.

The current setup is a switch I made after using the 48 (115yds), 52 (100), 56 (75), 60 (60) setup for 3 years. For some reason I could NEVER hit the 56 consistent enough and the new setup works out really well for me. The only time I have found myself a bit in trouble is when I have like 40-60 yards left. If i haven't been practicing that is.

So... as another poster said, grab some wedges, hit them, close the gap. It shouldn't matter too much about the diff in degree so long as you don't have a weird distance left you don't feel comfortable with. I would remember to take into account what bounce you are hitting as well...

[iacas]

Very interesting! I didn't know that about the lower CG. Can anyone explain the physics of how that happens?

A muscleback with the same loft as a game-improvement iron will hit the ball lower. The lower center of gravity helps to get the ball up in the air.

It's a subtle thing, but enough to affect the launch angle a degree or two. Here's a rough diagram. The green lines show everything's consistent. The checkered circles show the CG of the ball and the clubheads (pardon the "muscleback" I created). You'll note that everything is the same except the CG: it's farther back and lower in the cavity back club. The loft of the clubhead is marked by the pink line. Without getting into the specifics too much, the true trajectory is a blend of the pink and purple lines. With the muscleback, that's a lower trajectory than the loft alone (pink). With the cavity back, higher. To get back on topic , again, to the OP, I'd close any distance gaps, but don't worry about loft gaps alone. I have 48, 54, and 60 degree wedges. That's six degrees, but they're spaced evenly and so are my distance gaps: 115, 100, 75, 40 90, 65, 50, 30 70, 45, 35, 20 (That's from memory, though... anyway, there are no gaps in that set of three wedges.)

[Stacey_E]

Also a gap is only a space you can't cover with the two adjacent clubs.

My 37.25" 6 iron has 30.5* and my 40" 4 Hybrid has 23*. Thats a 2.75" in shaft and 7.5* loft "gap" between the two. But when it comes to the yardages I can play them to, between hard 6 irons and smooth 4hybrids choked down about an inch, I have no need for a club in between. So I dropped the 5 iron which I never ever hit, and put the 3 iron back in the bag for those tee shots on short 4s where a low running 200 is just what the doctor ordered.

[AntDempsey]

As a general rule i go for a maximum of a 4 degree gap between clubs.

[TCCcaddie]

I think that a 3-4 degress gap between wedges is good i go 46, 50, 54, 58. I think 7 is too much because there you need to really practice half shots with other clubs in order to make up the distance gap.

[jmgilliam]

Excellent diagram - my r7 almost looks like the one on the left. Very nicely done.

My question now is - how can I really calculate my loft if the specs say 45 degrees? Would it actually come off the face like a 47? It seems it would at least be that.. so a 52 would be what I need... MG

A muscleback with the same loft as a game-improvement iron will hit the ball lower. The lower center of gravity helps to get the ball up in the air.

[mruseless]

A muscleback with the same loft as a game-improvement iron will hit the ball lower. The lower center of gravity helps to get the ball up in the air.

Great diagram, thanks! You IT folks can just whip that stuff up... its cool.

[iacas]

My question now is - how can I really calculate my loft if the specs say 45 degrees? Would it actually come off the face like a 47? It seems it would at least be that.. so a 52 would be what I need...

Who cares? If you've read my posts, you'd see the loft gap is irrelevant. Distance gaps are what you need to be concerned with, not loft gaps.

Forget the loft. Check the distances.

[949 Golf]

Go hit different wedges. Different clubs/brands fly different yardages. Go play around with some in the simulator sometime and see what club will give you the distance you are looking for. If you need to add a GW then do it. Especially if you find yourself at the distance that your GW fills often. Good luck!!!!

[jmgilliam]

Thanks for all the responses to the other thread about the 7 degree loft diff.

I hit some wedges and have determined that I need a 50 to go with my 45 degree PW - it will serve as my gap 100-110 shot.

Now as a follow up - would I be better off to get the gap wedge to go with my r7's and then go specialty wedges at 54 or 56 and 60 or would you go ahead and go vokey for the gap too?

Thanks.

P.S. I was ready to go vokey for 50 because I didn't think i could find a 50 to match my set but i found one --